Product Review: Igloo Zip

Where can the item
be purchased? At select retailers — to
find them, click here.

What is the claim
of the product: All the softness of
pure merino, for instant warmth. Icebreaker’s a new natural, luxurious
alternative to synthetic fleece.

How to use the
product? You wear it just like a jacket—
but make sure you take care of it by doing the following:

•
Use warm or cool
machine wash on normal cycle

•
Wash separately first
(after 2-3 days use) to remove any loose fibres

•
Wash with like colours

•
Wash with other hard
fabrics to remove fluff

•
Never use a fabric
softener

•
Do not use detergents
with bleach

•
Do not tumble dry — dry
flat in the shade or on the clothes line

What was great
about the product:

•
We put the Igloo Zip on
a runner during a brisk fall day. Of she went and after a 7 km run, she was
sweating but the inside of the jacket was dry. She also said she did not feel
the need to take the Igloo Zip off; if felt comfortable and moved with her.

•
When we took a smell of
the jacket after our runner had done her best to sweat through it; we noticed
that it didn’t smell as much when compared to a normal cotton sweat shirt. Why?
The merino wool breaths more than a cotton fabric. See how the technology works
here.

•
It is made from merino
wool from New Zealand, a renewable resource that is also biodegradable. The
sheep that make the wool graze in free-range pastures year round.

•
No animal cruelty. The
company even have the same requirements for the dogs that heard the sheep. The
farmers that supply the wool must adhere to these.

•
Our garment came with a
unique barcode that allowed us to trace the wool back to a specific sheep.

•
The tags on the garment
were printed with vegetable inks on 100% recycled paper.

What was NOT so
great about the product:

•
We would love to have been
able to determine whether the sheep were from organic-certified farms.

Grade from Green
Living: A (A great product that is
durable, comfortable and gave us confidence that the material is sustainable
and the practices are Mother Earth–friendly).